John Abizaid Quotes

• We've got to ensure that the quality and the capability of these forces will be good enough to withstand the challenges that the insurgents and the terrorists will present to the new Iraqi government.

  John Abizaid

  Government, Challenges, Quality

  11 Copy quote

• Nobody's more mindful of the sacrifices of our troops than those of us that command them.

  John Abizaid

  Sacrifice, Troops, Command

  4 Copy quote

• Morale is good; troops are confident; leaders are capable.

  John Abizaid

  Military, Leader, Troops

  7 Copy quote

• I think you also understand that one of the key things that's got to be done in Iraq is to build a mentality of understanding that the military needs to be subordinate to civilian control and respectful of its own people.

  John Abizaid

  Military, Thinking, Keys

  7 Copy quote

• But the truth of the matter is that there is there is an opportunity for them to participate in the economic and political future of the country and certainly in the security life of the country.

  John Abizaid

  Country, Military, Opportunity

  4 Copy quote

• You don't build a new power plant in the United States overnight. It takes years to build.

  John Abizaid

  Years, United States, Plant

  6 Copy quote

• The power to prevent violence is a power that no police force seems to have anywhere in the United States.

  John Abizaid

  Police, United States, Violence

  4 Copy quote

• The United States is the most powerful nation on Earth and it just can't walk away from the Middle East and central Asia and the Horn of Africa.

  John Abizaid

  Powerful, Middle East, United States

  5 Copy quote

• So, these political activities will create friction in and of themselves, and in this environment of friction there'll be additional violence.

  John Abizaid

  Political, Environmental, Violence

  8 Copy quote

• Clearly the Secretary of Defense, my boss, would like nothing better than to get Osama bin Laden and to get... to ensure the complete defeat of al-Qaida, because we know that al-Qaida is planning operations against the United States even as we speak here.

  John Abizaid

  Military, Boss, United States

  Interview with Jim Lehrer, www.pbs.org. March 4, 2004.

  8 Copy quote

• Capturing any member of any terrorist cell or any insurgent cell that we may happen to come across is always very, very valuable, and the thing that interests me is that in most instances after a time people talk and they tell us what they know.

  John Abizaid

  Cells, People, May

  "General John Abizaid". "PBS NewsHour" with Jim Lehrer, www.pbs.org. March 4, 2004.

  7 Copy quote

• Everybody needs to understand that I learned Arabic from the United States Army as a second language. I never spoke it at home.

  John Abizaid

  Home, Army, United States

  6 Copy quote

• Well, the hardest thing to do, as we know from our own experience on 9/11 is protect everything all the time.

  John Abizaid

  Protect, Hardest, Wells

  Interview with Jim Lehrer, www.pbs.org. March 4, 2004.

  4 Copy quote

• You know as well as I do that counterinsurgency is a very nuanced type of military operation.

  John Abizaid

  Military, Type, Operations

  83 Copy quote

• We'll try to include Iraqi officers in our staffs. We will do everything we can to empower Iraqi security forces to stand up on their own and operate where they can alone.

  John Abizaid

  Military, Empowering, Trying

  "General John Abizaid". "PBS NewsHour" with Jim Lehrer, www.pbs.org. March 4, 2004.

  10 Copy quote

• Oh, the transition concerns me because as we move towards an important political event, it's clear to me that the terrorists and insurgents will move as hard as they can to disrupt this process.

  John Abizaid

  Military, Moving, Political

  Interview with Jim Lehrer, www.pbs.org. March 4, 2004.

  4 Copy quote

• But as we move from this period of what many Iraqis regard as perceived occupation, we need to move towards one of partnership.

  John Abizaid

  Military, Moving, Needs

  Interview with Jim Lehrer, www.pbs.org. March 4, 2004.

  4 Copy quote

• And over time, I think, as Iraqi security capacity builds, you'll see American and coalition presence there decline.

  John Abizaid

  Thinking, Decline, Capacity

  Interview with Jim Lehrer, www.pbs.org. March 4, 2004.

  4 Copy quote

• But my Arabic is pretty good. It's good enough to have conversations with people, to understand what they say, to understand what they're feeling.

  John Abizaid

  People, Feelings, Good Enough

  4 Copy quote

• And so I think that if the person has the funds, the network, and the equipment to do this, and also the experience, which is the key factor, then they can be quite deadly.

  John Abizaid

  Thinking, Keys, Reincarnation

  7 Copy quote

• I don't believe Iran is a suicide state.

  John Abizaid

  Suicide, Believe, Iran

  4 Copy quote

• Certainly our goal is to leave Iraq, but we can't leave Iraq with our forces until we know that the Iraqi security forces are capable and efficient enough to defend the sovereignty of the nation.

  John Abizaid

  Military, Iraq, Goal

  Interview with Jim Lehrer, www.pbs.org. March 4, 2004.

  4 Copy quote

• Undoubtedly, there are members of the former regime that are cooperating in some fashion and then there are extremists that are within Iraq that are cooperating with them.

  John Abizaid

  Fashion, Military, Iraq

  "General John Abizaid". "PBS NewsHour" with Jim Lehrer, www.pbs.org. March 4, 2004.

  6 Copy quote

• I believe we've... we've worked very hard with the Iraqis to build a better place ever since the fall of Saddam's government.

  John Abizaid

  Military, Believe, Fall

  Interview with Jim Lehrer, www.pbs.org. March 4, 2004.

  4 Copy quote

• But clearly the fact that we've gone from zero Iraqi security forces on duty in May to up to 200,000 today is an enormous accomplishment, but it's not enough.

  John Abizaid

  Zero, Military, Accomplishment

  8 Copy quote

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